At the White House, Baldrige also served as chief of staff for first lady Jacqueline Kennedy from 1961 to 1963. Baldrige, who was known as Tish, handled the first lady's schedule, mail and served as the advance scout on trips. She was also responsible for the guest list and overall coordination of events. At one point, she was tasked with finding a French chef to oversee the White House kitchen.

Baldrige acknowledged that she and her team of aides made mistakes. One letter responding to a celibate priest congratulated him on the birth of his son. On the Kennedys' 1962 visit to India, Baldrige nearly sent as a gift leather-framed photos, not recognizing that cows are sacred in India. And then there was the first large party she organized, two days into the administration, where she provided ashtrays for the guests and served liquor.

Both were unheard of, at least in the presence of reporters, and press called the party "debauched."

"The president wasn't happy," she recalled in a memoir, "A Lady, First."

But liquor continued to be served, and Kennedy later acknowledged he was wrong to give Baldrige a hard time.

"People have a good time in this house today," she recalled the president saying a year after the party.

Baldrige was born Feb. 9, 1926, in Miami Beach, Fla., the third of three children. Her father, H. Malcolm Baldrige, a lawyer, served one term as a Republican congressman from Nebraska in the early 1930s. Baldrige met the future first lady as a student a Miss Porter's School in Connecticut, and they both also attended Vassar.

After college, Baldrige did graduate work at the University of Geneva. She worked as a social s ecretary at the American embassy in Paris and as an assistant to the U.S. ambassador in Rome. In 1956, she became the director of publicity and public relations for the jeweler Tiffany & Company.

After leaving the White House, she started her own marketing and public relations agency and was the author of more than 20 books. Her business partner, Alinda Lewris, said in an email that Baldrige's most frequent advice was "Don't take yourself too seriously."

Baldrige acknowledged that as a member of the White House staff she lived a dream life.

"I don't care what your politics are, I would wager that if you asked any American woman which administration would she have most liked to work for as social secretary, she would pick Jacqueline Kennedy's White House as the place to be," she wrote in her memoir.

At the White House, Baldrige also served as chief of staff for first lady Jacqueline Kennedy from 1961 to 1963. Baldrige, who was known as Tish, handled the first lady's schedule, mail and served as the advance scout on trips. She was also responsible for the guest list and overall coordination of events. At one point, she was tasked with finding a French chef to oversee the White House kitchen.

Baldrige acknowledged that she and her team of aides made mistakes. One letter responding to a celibate priest congratulated him on the birth of his son. On the Kennedys' 1962 visit to India, Baldrige nearly sent as a gift leather-framed photos, not recognizing that cows are sacred in India. And then there was the first large party she organized, two days into the administration, where she provided ashtrays for the guests and served liquor.

Both were unheard of, at least in the presence of reporters, and press called the party "debauched."

"The president wasn't happy," she recalled in a memoir, "A Lady, First."

But liquor continued to be served, and Kennedy later acknowledged he was wrong to give Baldrige a hard time.

"People have a good time in this house today," she recalled the president saying a year after the party.

Baldrige was born Feb. 9, 1926, in Miami Beach, Fla., the third of three children. Her father, H. Malcolm Baldrige, a lawyer, served one term as a Republican congressman from Nebraska in the early 1930s. Baldrige met the future first lady as a student a Miss Porter's School in Connecticut, and they both also attended Vassar.

After college, Baldrige did graduate work at the University of Geneva. She worked as a social s ecretary at the American embassy in Paris and as an assistant to the U.S. ambassador in Rome. In 1956, she became the director of publicity and public relations for the jeweler Tiffany & Company.

After leaving the White House, she started her own marketing and public relations agency and was the author of more than 20 books. Her business partner, Alinda Lewris, said in an email that Baldrige's most frequent advice was "Don't take yourself too seriously."

Baldrige acknowledged that as a member of the White House staff she lived a dream life.

"I don't care what your politics are, I would wager that if you asked any American woman which administration would she have most liked to work for as social secretary, she would pick Jacqueline Kennedy's White House as the place to be," she wrote in her memoir.

Guest Book Highlights

"Please accept my sincere condolences and sincere prayers that go out to the surviving family and friends. May the God of comfort continue to bless you and yours especially after such an untimely loss of a very precious life please accept my deepest..." (GA)

"The world has lost a treasure.She was a "Great Lady" in the very best sense of the idea; courageous, unwavering, generous and loyal. A formidable woman with a heart of gold and a rapier wit. I was honored to have met her. She left the world a better..."

"Throughout her life Tish was a very very generous friend. We met in Rome when she was attached to the American embassy working with Clare Boothe Luce and I was working at CARE, Inc. earning a local salary of $100 a month. She would pick me up in her..."

"My deepest sympathy to Ms' Baldrige's family May God give you conmfort in your time of grief . Love Mesky"

"I would like to thank Ms. Baldrige for all her wonderful books, several of which I own, and for the guidance she gave me years ago when I needed to write a joint condolence/congratulatory note. Her books are wonderful reads and I continue to..."- Valerie Smith (Old Saybrook, CT)

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WASHINGTON Letitia Baldrige, who was social secretary to first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and also became known as a "doyenne of decorum" and chief arbiter of good manners in modern America, died...
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